Description:Tales From The Earth. A thoroughly cosmopolitan outlook rooted in the rhythmic intensity and improvisatory, call-and- response spirit of Africa writ large. Artists of Cuban, Haitian, West African (Bénin, Ivory Coast), European, African American and Jewish American heritage, entering a Berlin studio for two days of intensive recording, without music or a predetermined conception, only a shared commitment to the communal, celebratory character that embodies the expressive riches of Mother Africa.

Flautist Mark Weinstein's groundbreaking Cuban Roots (1967) melded the influences of Mingus, Machito, Puente,
Tjader, and Palmieri, carried forward into the present with his recent collaborations, Cuban Roots Revisited, Algo Más, and now, Tales From The Earth. Weaving a musical lineage of a thousand strands, if Tales From The Earth recalls something of the creative spirit of M'Boom, the inventive all-percussion octet founded by Max Roach in 1970, it captures the global ecumenical spirit of the present.

Tales From The Earth weaves a musical narrative that can be read as a journey to the source of the human spirit with all the playfulness, celebration, contemplation, historical awareness, compassion, reverence, and gratitude manifest in a life consciously lived.

Co-produced by Mark Weinstein, Omar Sosa, and Jean Paul Bourelly, Tales From The Earth embraces the radical challenge laid down by Monk long ago: "Jazz is freedom, so I play music. If I ever play the same thing twice, I'll stop making music. "

This ensemble never plays the same thing twice, and Tales From The Earth expresses a revelatory message, deeply grounded in tradition, yet thoroughly contemporary and innovative in realization, an expression of human freedom, and a celebration of the Diaspora, alive in our times.

Jazz Flutist plays World based Jazz and Post-Bebop with world-class musicians rooted in Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, African, Jewish and Indian traditions. A Latin Jazz innovator, Mark was among the first jazz musicians to record with traditional Cuban rhythm sections. His signature album, Cuban Roots, released in 1967 is a classic with Mark on trombone and Chick Corea on piano in an epic making statement that transformed Latin Jazz. His recent recordings include such notables as Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, percussionists Francisco Aguabella, Cyro Baptista and Pedrito Martinez, bassists Santi Debriano, Nilson Mata and Mike Richmond as well as guitarists Jean Paul Bourelly, Vic Juris, Brad Shepik and Ed Cherry and drummers Cindy Blackman, Paulo Braga and Cecil Brooks III.